Create your own fun: How to make a bean bag in 10 minutes

Today is a simple win project: how to make a bean bag.

DIY beanbags are so simple to sew, they’re perfect for sewing beginners of all ages. They’re fun to make and easy to make several at a go.

Things to love about DIY bean bags:

• The fabric you choose will be anything but the boring solids you can buy.
• You can use up small fabric scraps.
• They’re great for juggling, cornhole or other toss games or as a toy item for Operation Christmas Child boxes.
• This is a great 1^st sewing machine project for kids to make, and they’ll something to play with at the end! They’ll practice stopping to pivot at corners and work on mastering simple straight line stitching.

The best part is that you don’t need any special pattern for a bean bag. With a couple squares of fabric, you can make a bean bag in about 10 minutes. We’ll talk about the best fabrics and fillings for making bean bags, then I’ll walk you through how to sew a bean bag. At the end, I’ll give you an extra option for making your bean bags stronger with added muslin fabric.

So grab a ruler and learn how to make a bean bag step by step.

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Supplies for how to make a bean bag

• Scraps of woven fabric (see note below) slightly bigger than 6” square.
• muslin (optional)
• ½ cup measuring cup
• funnel
• beans, lentils or other small filler like pony beads
• ruler
• fabric marking pen or pencil
• fabric scissors (my favorite for adults and my favorite for kids)
• gram scale (optional)
• iron
• Turn it All tubes (optional)

What kind of fabric should I use for making DIY bean bags?

The easiest fabric to work with when you’re considering how to sew a bean bag is 100% cotton.

Cotton quilting fabrics are available in countless fun prints that you can mix and match to make some truly happy bean bags. This is the choice I’d use for sewing bean bags with kids. It’s easy for them to manipulate the fabric and cut it on their own.

If you need more durability in your bean bags, you can make a muslin insert, or you can use a sturdy fabric like cotton denim or twill. Use denim or twill if your bean bags get a lot of use (i.e. juggling, cornhole).

If you use your bean bags mainly outside and you live in a place where there’s a lot of moisture, consider using a waterproof durable outdoor fabric or oilcloth. A coated polyester oxford like this is a good choice. For a DIY option for water resistant fabrics, check out Make Your Own Laminated Fabric.

What materials can I use for bean bag filling?

• Beans or lentils of any type
• Poly weighted stuffing beads
• Pony beads
• Rice
• Synthetic corn fill (best for bean bags for cornhole)
• Pony beads

As you can see, you’ve got a lot of choices here. As a rule, use the food stuffs if you’re only using your DIY bean bags in dry areas. Nobody wants to grow things out of bean bags! If you’re going to be using your bean bags in any kind of damp area, choose a plastic fill.

How to make a bean bag in 10 minutes

Cut your bean bag pieces (no bean bag pattern required!)

Use your ruler and fabric marker to draw a 6” square on your fabric of choice.

For every bean bag you make, cut out 2 squares.

Sew the bean bag

Place your fabric right sides together. Start sewing on one side with a 3/8” seam allowance to the first corner, stopping with the needle down.

On my machine, a 3/8” seam allowance is how far the edge of my presser foot is from the raw edge. I teach my students to use the edge of the foot as a visual guide when they’re first learning.

Once you’ve stitched to the first corner, lift the presser foot, then pivot the fabric so that the 2^nd side is facing you. Put the presser foot back down, then stitch to the next corner.

Continue stitching around the square, leaving about a hole about 2” long on the first side you started stitching.

Turn the bean bag right side out

From here, turn your bean bag right side out through the hole. If you have them, Turn it All tubes are very helpful here.

Poke out the corners with a chopstick or wiggle the edges to get nice square corners.

Use an iron to press the edges of the hole so that they’re even with the seam edges.

Press the bean bag flat.

Fill the bag

Place the end of your funnel inside the hole. If you don’t have a funnel, a small spoon works too.

Drop in ½ cup of filling into the bag through the top of the funnel.

You can fill your bag more, but I’ve found that ½ cup makes for a bag with a good weight that still has some movement in the filling. Bean bags are not pillows: they’re supposed to be not stuffed to the brim. Experiment with filling your DIY bean bags and see what you think.

If you’re making bags for juggling where you want some more consistency in the weight of your bean bags, consider using a gram scale to weigh out your filling precisely.

Sew up the bag

To finish off your bean bag, change your sewing machine to a 1.5mm length straight stitch. A shorter length stitch will make for a strong bag that won’t leak on you.

Sew across the hole through both layers of the bean bag, backstitching at the beginning and end of your line of stitching.

Tada! You made a bean bag! Repeat this process for as many bean bags as you want to make, or keep reading on how you can add some extra strength to your handmade bean bags.

Optional to Make it stronger: cut muslin for a bean bag insert

*I debated about adding this step in here. You can 100% make a good DIY bean bag without this step. In fact, skip this step if you want to sew a simple bean bag.

The added muslin will make the outer exterior of the bean bag a little smoother and also help cut down on the wear and tear on the bag as you’re sewing. If you’re making bean bags that are going to see a lot of play, maybe add the muslin in after you’ve made your first bean bag. As a mom with 3 boys, the extra strength is always a good feature!

If you’re sewing bean bags, cut two 6” squares from muslin during the cutting process.

Sew the bean bag insert

Place your muslin squares together. Start sewing on one side with a 3/8” seam allowance to the first corner, stopping with the needle down.

Lift the presser foot, then pivot the fabric so that the 2^nd side is facing you. Put the presser foot back down, then stitch to the next corner.

Continue stitching around the square, leaving about a hole about 2” long on the first side you started stitching.

To add the muslin insert to the bean bag, place the muslin inside the outer bean bag so that the holes are even.

Fill the muslin insert with your filling of choice as above.

Finishing up sewing the bean bag with the muslin insert

Change your sewing machine to a 1.5mm length straight stitch. Close up the hole on the muslin insert. Carefully, shift the filling so that you can rotate the stitched hole inside the bean bag so that it lies on another side of the bean bag. By keeping the holes of the muslin insert and the bean bag at different points on your bean bag, there’s less of a chance of the filling coming out.

Once you’ve done this, sew up the hole on the outer bean bag with that same 1.5mm length straight stitch. Be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end of your stitching.

And that’s how to make a bean bag. Check out these other simple to sew projects you can sew with your kids: